


Congratulations, You are Bonded!

by cattycas



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Banter, Crack, Force Bond (Star Wars), Friends to Lovers, Humor, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker Are Not Married, idiots to lovers, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29899419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cattycas/pseuds/cattycas
Summary: Finding a Sith Temple? For The Team, that sounds just like another Tuesday. Accidentally participating in an unknown ritual with a surprising outcome? Well, that's a bit unusual even for them. Unfortunately for Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, that's exactly what they end up doing during an otherwise completely ordinary mission.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Congratulations, You are Bonded!

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this fic as a way to give myself a break from another, more serious story, so beware, this is completely self-indulgent. :)

Finding a Sith temple wasn't all that unusual by now for Anakin — he'd seen several already on all the worlds his missions took him to. What _was_ unusual about this one, however, was the fact that it had two living beings inside. And they were performing some sort of a ritual right at this moment. 

"What do you think they are trying to do?" Obi-Wan asked in a whisper. He was crouching low behind a convenient column and taking careful peeks every so often.

"How am I supposed to know? _I_ am not a Sith," Anakin hissed back from his own hideout. "Maybe they are trying to raise some ancient evil spirit. Or to channel enough energy to become powerful overlords and enslave this planet or something."

Whatever their goal was, one thing was painfully clear: they called upon the Dark Side to achieve it. Force energy flowed around stone altar in the center of the round chamber and two beings standing on the dais beside it — Zabrak and Nightsister, by the looks of them — in turbulent swirls. The atmosphere in the temple was heady, even the Force itself felt heavy and oppressive in this ancient place, pressing down on Anakin and sending shivers down his spine. 

It didn't matter what exactly the ritual was about, he decided, it needed to be stopped. 

He was just about to jump out and rush to the altar when Obi-Wan's hand shot out and caught him. 

"Anakin, wait!"

He pulled Anakin behind the column with him and leaned in to murmur into his ear, "We should see how this plays out. Learn what we can. Let's watch."

Ah, Obi-Wan and his never-ending quest to become the nerdiest Jedi in the Order's history. 

Anakin scoffed. What was there to learn anyway? Nightsister by now had placed an artifact atop the altar, and it was emanating vicious red light, thrumming with dark energy. Then she began binding her hand to Zabrak's with coils of thick red string. 

It was as good a moment to attack as they were gonna get, so despite all of Obi-Wan's protests Anakin sprang to his feet and emerged from the column. 

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan hissed, but it was too late.

With a low hum a line of bright blue light extended from Anakin's 'saber, illuminating their position and attracting attention of the pair. There was nothing to it now, so rather than continue to hide Obi-Wan chose to join him. 

"Stay where you are," he commanded, rounding the column as well, lightsaber drawn but not ignited. He used his General Kenobi voice. "Take two steps away from the artifact and don't try any tricks," he added, slowly approaching the dais. 

At his side, Anakin grinned, falling into steps with his former Master, grip on the lightsaber slack and careless, but Force senses on full alert. 

"You may try some if you wanna fight. I for one wouldn't even mind it."

"When do you ever," Obi-Wan muttered, so low that Anakin barely heard him. It just made him grin wider. 

Nightsister and Zabrak were watching them warily. They did not step away from the altar, but neither were they acting in any way hostile or suspicious. They just stood there, calmly, and waited. 

"Well, I guess we should postpone this, Rowan," Zabrak sighted, beginning to unwrap red rope that was connecting his wrist to the Nightsister's. 

He was severe looking male, tall, horned, with huge muscular arms. And yet, he had the most serene presence in the Force that Anakin had ever felt from a Zabrak. The Nightsister, though, — Rowan, that seemed to be her name — was far less patient. 

"What are the Jedi doing here?" she demanded once he and Obi-Wan approached. "Why did you stop us?"

"Uh, hello, this is a Sith temple," Anakin told her. He waved his hand around to further demonstrate the point. 

"So?"

"So?!" Anakin repeated incredulously. "You were calling on the Dark Side!"

"Nightsister using dark magic, what a discovery, how scandalous," she retorted in a flat tone of voice, and even went as far as to roll her eyes, and didn't add a 'dumbass', but most certainly meant it. "Was I hurting anyone? Do you see any bloody sacrifices? Or is it just forbidden by your Republic laws or something?"

They were decidedly not in the Republic space, though, and Rowan definitely knew that. Anakin helplessly turned to Obi-Wan, who was, of course, not sympathetic in the least. 

"I told you not to rush," Obi-Wan said, exasperated. The Force around him was tinged with amusement. 

"Well, _that_ ," Anakin said, pointing towards the artifact still glowing menacingly on the altar, "that at least is without a doubt a dangerous thing, and—"

He took a step in its direction — not trying to reach it, just to take a better look — but his foot caught on a lose stone and he suddenly pitched forward, loosing his balance. Just as he desperately tried to grab onto something to hold onto, the Force around him unusually elusive and unresponsive, several things had happened almost simultaneously. Rowan jumped to the side to avoid collision, crashing into Obi-Wan instead, who was trying to reach Anakin to steady him. In the process loose end of the red string got caught in the clasps of Anakin's mechnoarm glove, causing it to unspool from Rowan's wrist and get tangled around his own instead. Obi-Wan, knocked by her momentum, lost his footing too, crashing into Anakin and further aiding his fall. 

And this is how both of them proceeded to get slammed against the altar, limbs tangled, covered in loops of red string. The altar shook from the impact, causing glowing artifact skid down its smooth surface, right to the very edge where it tethered precariously for half a second — and then plunged towards uneven floor of the dais. 

"No!" Rowan yelled, right at the same moment as a bright warning from the Force flared in Anakin's mind. 

But it was too late now; he had landed at an awkward angle, and with his hands accidentally bound and his line of sight limited, Anakin just had no way of stopping the fall in time. 

Neither, apparently, did others because the next thing he heard was a loud crack, and then a wave of hot white light erupted from the broken artifact, so bright that Anakin had to tightly shut his eyes. Even that was not enough to fully shield them, and he turned his head to the side, ending up with his face pressed into Obi-Wan's shoulder. He felt a nick of pain at his wrist, the flesh one, like a burn, but it was so brief — there and gone — that he wasn't sure he didn't just imagine it. 

Once the light had finally subsided and temporary blindness passed, he blinked a few times and swiveled his head around trying to take stock of what was going on. The temple now seemed darker and strangely hollow in the Force, like whatever was responsible for the heavy atmosphere of before was gone now. Well, he had a pretty good idea what that might have been. 

With a groan Obi-Wan disentangled himself from Anakin and stood up. 

"Force, you got these all over yourself," he muttered, helping Anakin up as well and looking disapprovingly at the coils of red string that were still loosely bound around his mechnoarm, one end tightly knotted around glove clasp, his other hand somehow also caught in the net. 

"Ugh, maybe it's some evil magical rope," Anakin complained, trying to shrug it off. "It feels weird. And also, hey, you've got some on you too." 

It was true, the other end of the string was sticking to Obi-Wan's sleeve, had probably gotten there when they had so gracefully smashed into each other. 

"Oh Anakin," Obi-Wan sighted, flinging the rope away dramatically. "Why is everything always such a mess with you?" 

"You're the one to talk," Anakin threw back, "it was _your_ idea to come here." 

"Yes, and why did you come here?" Rowan asked. 

Anakin turned his head to look at her. He had almost forgotten they had company, and a shifty one at that. He threw a quick glance at Zabrak, but tall male still looked and felt inscrutably calm. He barely even moved, taking just a couple of steps around the altar to stare forlornly at the cracked pieces of the artifact. 

"We were looking for the thugs who had kidnapped the child of Esteria's Governor. Our investigation brought us to the area, and this seemed like a good place to look," Obi-Wan explained, then casually added, "You're not them, are you? I don't see any children around." 

"I told you, we were not hurting anyone," Rowan answered, folding her hands over her chest. 

"Then what were you doing?" Anakin asked. 

He eyed broken shards on the floor with distaste, unable to feel anything but satisfaction about the Sith artifact getting shattered. 

"None of your Jedi business," Rowan replied sharply. "You have already ruined enough." 

"This temple must be secured, we have no idea what else might be here and what threats it poses," Obi-Wan mused. "If you are not inclined to share any information with us, then perhaps it's better for you to leave." 

"Better for _us_ to leave, are you serious?" Rowan threw her arms into the air and gave a sharp laugh. "After you just destroyed all that I have worked on for so long, after you ruined our best chance to... You have no idea, not the faintest clue what any of this was meant for!"

She was angry, devastation giving way to rage, and Anakin felt his own hackles rise in response. 

"Well, you're not exactly in a hurry to clue us in, are you?" he snapped in reply. "Perhaps you are not quite as innocent as you pretend to be!" 

Rowan's eyes sparked with malice, and it could have had very well dissolved into a fight, or at least a shouting match, if they weren't stopped by a deep voice. 

"She was trying to save me." 

It was Zabrak who finally spoke up. 

"Wirz, no!" Rowan cried out, whirling to face him. 

"They are Jedi, they are not going to sell us out," he replied, placing a placating hand on her pale shoulder. "There is no harm in telling them." After a moment, he hesitantly added, "Perhaps, they can even help." 

She wasn't happy, Anakin could feel it in the Force, but in the end she conceded. 

"Fine," she said, and her grey eyes returned to Anakin and Obi-Wan. After eyeing them suspiciously for a moment, she took a deep breath and started her story. 

"We are both from Dathomir. My clan of Nightsisters is ruled by Mother Talzin, a powerful witch talented in dark magick. When she requested a Zabrak from the village where our males live, they could not refuse her. And they sent Wirz." She threw a quick glance his way, then continued, "Mother Talzin was going to make him her thrall, turn him into a monster. I do not know to what purpose, but it would not have been pretty. And I didn't want that." 

She looked at Wirz again, and Anakin noticed his hand taking hold of hers and gently squeezing. Small smile tugged at the corners of Rowan's mouth before quickly disappearing. 

"Wirz and I... We knew each other, met long time ago before this happened."

There was affection in her voice and in the Force, and realization bloomed like a flower in Anakin's mind. They were in love. They fell in love back then. 

"So we ran. Rowan freed me and we escaped, and now we are in hiding from the most powerful Dathomirian witch," Wirz told them gravely.

Rowan nodded. 

"It's only a matter of time before she tracks us down with her magick. So we knew we couldn't run forever." Her impression suddenly turned contemplative. "You know, I have magick too. I am not strong in the Force, nowhere near strong enough for you Jedi to have picked me up as a child, I imagine, but I have it, and I can do some magic tricks as well." 

Anakin felt stirring in the Force from Obi-Wan at her words — his former Master wanted to say something, but in the end he stayed silent and let Rowan unfold her story further without interruption. 

"On Dathomir, I studied under Old Daka, our eldest and wisest witch, and I had access to Nightsisters' ancient scripts and secrets. This is how I learned about the ritual. It did not interest me at the time, it was an outdated tradition, not used in over a century, a thing of the past. But I remembered about it on the run. This ritual was going to help me save Wirz and myself from being persecuted by my clan." 

Here her gaze turned accusing, and Anakin shifted uncomfortably. 

Obi-Wan coughed, then asked in the most polite tone possible, "What was the ritual supposed to do exactly?"

"It's a bonding ritual," she replied. "As I said, it's a thing of the past, but Nightsisters respect traditions. The ritual binds two beings together, with magic, with Force tethers. A Force-marriage, if you will. And according to the ancient laws, once one of our own takes a mate this way, he, or she, is off limits, nothing and no one can touch them or do them any harm." She took a breath, released it, and went on, "These days my sisters don't care much for official rituals when they want to mate, so this law has been forgotten. But used to be, anyone who laid a hand on a mate of one of ours, they lost that hand, and then their life." 

"A perfectly nice civil law," Obi-Wan muttered, earning an unimpressed gaze from Rowan. "I am sorry for disrupting your plans," he added gently, "but it _is_ a Sith temple, and you _did_ use a Sith artifact, and magic of the witches of Dathomir _does_ call upon the Dark Side. This is a dangerous combination that we as Jedi cannot simply ignore."

Anakin huffed, glad to hear at last that Obi-Wan was on his side.

"And so you didn't, and now we are helpless against a clan of powerful witches," Rowan replied, an unpleasant smile on her lips that held no warmth whatsoever.

"Perhaps we can help you," Obi-Wan muttered. "If we take you under the protection of Galactic Republic, it will be hard for your clanmates to take hold of you."

"You think we want to run forever? You think we want to _hide_ forever?" Rowan demanded. "They are my sisters, Dathomir is my home! The ritual would have kept Wirz safe and out of Mother Talzin's clutches, and my perpetration would have been forgiven if I adhered to this ancient law. We could go back!"

"You want to return there?" Anakin asked, astonished. For him, home meant cruel world full of injustice, barely tolerable for any living creature, and he knew that Dathomir was not much kinder place. He could not imagine wanting to return and spend his life there, not when people who meant the most for him — those who remained — were already at his side. "Even though your ruler wanted to do awful things to your mate, even though she and your sisters are hunting you right now?"

"I went against my leader, I upset her plans, it's an offend and I don't blame them," Rowan replied, her expression stony. "But with this bond I could have proved I had a cause to claim him, they would have understood. Nightsisters are family, we don't give up easily on one another."

"Then why couldn't you have just explained he meant a lot to you? With words?" Anakin asked, crossing his hands.

"A strict family," Rowan amended.

"Don't you have any say in this?" Obi-Wan asked, turning to Wirz.

Zabrak shrugged.

"We adhere to Nightsisters, their clan leader rules over all of Dathomir, including us. But desire to return is mutual, it is my homeplanet as well. I do not wish to never see my brothers again and live on some foreign planet for the rest of my life."

Anakin and Obi-Wan exchanged uneasy glances. 

"Our offer of protection stands," Obi-Wan said finally. "Aside from that, I do not think we can be helpful in any other way. However, what I said earlier is also true. This temple must be secured and investigated, we'll have to transmit the coordinates to the Jedi Council on Coruscant." He hesitated slightly. "Although, I suppose it will have to wait until we have proper and secure connection, wouldn't want to broadcast sensitive information without precaution."

He was stretching the truth to give them time, but Anakin didn't call him out on it. A slight feeling of guilt gnawed at him for interrupting the ritual — he didn't doubt Rowan's story, her and Wirz's sincerity was clear in the Force, as well as their desperation. There was a great deal of anger, too, at least on Rowan's end, but this, Anakin could understand only too well.

"We still have a mission to finish, too," he reminded his former Master. "So I suggest we head out." He glanced back at the Nightsister and Zabrak pair. "I wouldn't linger here too long if I were you." 

With that, he turned to walk away and after a murmur of well wishes Obi-Wan joined him as well.

They were almost at the entrance when Rowan suddenly called out to them, "Wait, don't you want to know how to undo it?" 

"Undo what?" Anakin asked in confusion, turning around. 

"The ritual, of course. Or you don't mind this new condition?" 

"Well, it would be interesting to know the detailed process," Obi-Wan started, stopping in his tracks and looking pensive. "It never hurts to acquire more knowledge into something so unique and Force related, one never knows when it can come handy." Then his eyes suddenly went narrow with suspicion. "Excuse me, but did you just say 'this new condition'? What exactly are you implying?" 

Agitated, he took several steps back towards the dias, Anakin joylessly trailing behind him. What was all this about now? He might have felt sympathy for the witch, but he wasn't sure that they should trust her. 

"You do realize that when you interrupted us and broke the artifact you released all of its energy?" Rowan asked. She was standing right where they left her, calmly watching them approach again. "The energy that powered up the spellwork I had woven into this," she raised her hand, ball of listless red string clutched in her fingers. "The spell was itched into the string, I have spent many nights crafting it. It was supposed to bind me and Wirz. So when you somehow got tangled in the rope, the spell and the energy from the artifact got directed into you two idiots instead of us."

Anakin was watching her dumbly, trying to make sense of what Rowan just told them. Surely, surely, she couldn't mean what he was thinking she was saying?..

Beside him, Obi-Wan groaned.

And Wirz, suddenly joyous for no apparent reason, loudly declared from Rowan's side, "Congratulations! You are bonded!"

'Kark' was suddenly the only thought left in Anakin's mind. The Jedi Council was going to kill them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) All my knowledge about Nightsisters and their culture comes from The Clone Wars series (and a lil bit wookieepedia), so everything else here is completely made up. If something contradicts other canon material, this is why :d  
> 2) To clear up the timeline - this takes place some time after Asajj left Dooku, but before Maul showed up.  
> 


End file.
